Issue

Errors referencing assemblies that do not exist, fail with exceptions etc.

Most errors that are similar to the ones below are caused by the same core issues.(Scroll down the article to see the causes and resolutions)

These errors may contain different guids, assembly names and reference different solutions. They are commonly manifest in different ways, the three most common are following:

Licensing errors

File or assembly name Altiris.RecoverySolution, or one of its dependencies, was not found.
Failed to GetLicensingPolicy. ProductGuid={54ba26d1-6c8d-4079-a22a-caebaa117b51}

Client Configuration request errors

Unable to get the client policies for specified resource
File or assembly name Altiris.ApplicationMetering, or one of its dependencies, was not found.

Console navigation errors

File or assembly name Altiris.NS.UI.ControlsEx, or one of its dependencies, was not found

The basic cause is that a call is being made to a dll that no longer exists or the correct version does not exist on the system. This can be difficult to determine, for example; loading the Active Directory column mappings page, attempts to load all dataclasses associated with a computer.If any of those dataclasses use an assembly that is no longer present, corrupt outdated etc the load will fail with an error that may be fairly generic.

Environment

Notification Server
Any solution that enters information into the Altiris database

Cause

1. Many solutions have multiple executables or require additional solutions to be installed. Installing solutions through any method other than the Solution Center in notification server can miss these and cause this error.
2. The uninstall of a solution was not complete, leaving behind information in the database that should have been removed or set to uninstalled. This is commonly the case for the errors seen with Licensing and Client Configuration requests.
3. The assembly is linked to another that exists but not in the version range that is expected. The following is an example:

Unhandled Exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: File or assembly name Altiris.NS or one of its dependencies, was not found.

This is looking for a version 6.0.6074.4 but version 6.0.6074.0 is the latest installed version.

Solution

Before doing any of the resolutions below look at the list of assemblies below to make sure it is not one that requires a very specific resolution. This list may not be complete after time, look at the results of the Knowledge base search to verify that a more specific resolution is not recommended.

Open Solution Center and select the solution, if it opens a dialog to install click ‘Start’. This means there were pieces missing from the installation. If Altiris.Profiling is the assembly, Install the AltirisDiagnostics.msi by default this would be located in the <Install Dir>:\\Program Files\Altiris\Setup Files\NS. Then run a repair of the solution that was not working correctly and restart the Altiris Services.

Note: Make sure all installs are done local to the computer or using the /console not through a basic terminal services session.

Repair or Reinstall the solution. If the solution is unwanted make sure to capture the logs during the uninstall to evaluate if the uninstall causes the issue again.

Update the solutions, hotfixes etc listed in the error so that all needed assemblies are available.

Note: If the installation files are not available for a Solution, like PC Transplant Solution, the reason may that it was discontinued (see Article ID: 19415, "Where can I find Altiris Product End of Life (EOL) information?"). See article 38187 for an option to remove solutions that are no longer available.